A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana

When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of 300 people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period - people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.

I knew I wanted to get the two Zippy books, and then they went on sale recently. Perfect opportunity, and I downloaded them both.

I just want to commend the author, Haven Kimmel, on her wonderful writing and narration skills. All in all, it was a truly fun listening experience! Kimmel's Zippy voice was amazing--obviously, no one could do it better than her, as she IS Zippy! This book is very funny and had me laughing out loud many times. Zippy tells of her childhood in short "essays" and you really get a feeling that she was an amazing child who made her own way in the world by necessity, as her parents were lacking in many parenting skills. There was just a touch of the bittersweet in this book if you "listen" between the lines, as parenting Zippy was not a priority for her parents. Zippy quickly became her own person and she had quite a memorable childhood despite what was lacking in her parents. I felt I could listen to Zippy's stories endlessly and was sorry when the book ended. Luckily for me, I had the sequel, "She Got Up Off The Couch" waiting in my library.

Highly recommended.--not a child's book but a book for the young at heart.

Yellow Crocus

Moments after Lisbeth is born, she’s taken from her mother and handed over to an enslaved wet nurse, Mattie, a young mother separated from her own infant son in order to care for her tiny charge. Thus begins an intense relationship that will shape both of their lives for decades to come. Though Lisbeth leads a life of privilege, she finds nothing but loneliness in the company of her overwhelmed mother and her distant, slave-owning father.

I don't rate all good books with 5 stars, but I have absolutely nothing to nitpick about this audiobook. I enjoyed everything about it, and I am sure it will remain in my memory for a long time to come.

I am often wary of reading a "slave" book, just like I am of a "holocaust" book. It takes some emotional bracing and mental preparation beforehand, but I will not avoid these two heartrending and important subjects.

This book was beautifully written. The characters were well-developed and all very believable. Whether I loved them or hated them, I could surely understand their motivations and behaviors based on the times and the setting they resided in. The slavery period can make for very sad and uncomfortable reading, but author Ibrahim handled this with finesse, neither appealing to or manipulating our emotions and our guilt, nor glossing over it to make it more palatable. I feel the story was well-balanced and the facts of the period were presented in a non-preachy and non-exaggerated manner.

The story was engrossing to me. I really cared what happened to the two main characters, Mattie and Lisbeth. I held my breath at times when they exhibited behaviors that would likely put them in real danger, and I sighed with relief when it seemed that they would be all right. The ending was very intense and emotional--I listened with rapt attention, even though I believed I knew what was going to happen. This book is an example of what I refer to as "an author taking care of their readers."

The narration, in case you are wondering, was just perfect. I hope to find more audiobooks narrated by Turpin in the future.

The Walk

What would you do if you lost everything - your job, your home, and the love of your life - all at the same time? When it happens to Seattle ad executive Alan Christoffersen, he's tempted by his darkest thoughts. A bottle of pills in his hand and nothing left to live for, he plans to end his misery. Instead, he decides to take a walk. But not any ordinary walk. Taking with him only the barest of essentials, Al leaves behind all that he's known and heads for the farthest point on his map.

I really enjoyed this short story and am left wondering, since there are at least five books in the series, why oh why are they so short? It is totally unnecessary and I am left with a slight negative feeling from a book that I otherwise loved listening to.

Alan Christoffersen's life falls apart in a matter of weeks. Everything that he knew and loved is gone, and he has to make some pretty serious decisions. His first decision is whether he even wants to go on living. Well, there wouldn't be any book at all if he did himself in, so that is no spoiler. Besides, you already know he is going on a long, long walk (5 books worth, so far).

Alan's walk becomes what I might call a spiritual endeavor (but not really religious) and I feel he is going to learn some of life's deeper and more important lessons as he continues on his cross country trek. This is a very gentle, sweet book that moves along at a walker's pace. I enjoyed it immensely and I do look forward to continuing the journey .

This is an author-narrated book. Authors are not necessarily the best narrators, I think we all would agree, but sometimes that can acceptable. Evan's tells his story in a quiet, believable fashion, so much so that I had to do some research to find out if this was a novel or true story at the beginning.

So, all in all, this was a very positive listening experience for me despite the above-mentioned shortness of the audiobook.

A Watershed Year

Lucy never confessed her love to her best friend Harlan before he passed away. Two months after his funeral, she is haunted by the power of things left unsaid. But then she receives the first of his e-mails arranged to be sent after his death. So begins the year that everything changes - Lucy's watershed year. In an e-mail, Harlan says something that consumes her: He's certain Lucy is destined for motherhood. In her grief, she suddenly rediscovers hope, journeying to Russia to adopt a four-year-old boy.

This book was so utterly disappointing for me. So many words, such minutiae and so much triviality. It seemed like such a promising story line. International adoption is a real interest of mine. I felt like this book never took off, that was stuck on the tarmac for hours and hours. I didn't see much character development and thus, I didn't feel for any of the characters, at all. The endless nonsense about the saints--ugh, what type of plot gimmick is that? It wasn't educational or informative or even interesting, just quirky filler to me.

Add Lucy and Harlan's friendship and her year of endless grieving for what never ever was, for what she was actually afraid to even acknowledge. And how far-fetched was what Lucy learned about Harlen at the end? Really? (I am not going to say more as I don't want to spoil it for anyone.)

As for the narrator, I have mixed feelings. She did the foreign voices well but she got very shrill whenever there was any emotional dialogue. In addition, I really didn't enjoy the way she portrayed Lucy. Too much emphasis in her voice. It made Lucy seem downright annoying to me most of the time.

And yet, I plodded on and on even though I knew how it would end beforehand. There was something that kept me going. Therefore, I am giving it three stars across the board. And yet, I will not seek this author out again.

The Girl on the Train: A Novel

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. "Jess and Jason," she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost. And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good? Compulsively readable, The Girl on the Train is an emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller and an electrifying debut.

I follow many reviewers (it's fun!), and the reviews kept coming in on this book, every one positive. So, of course, I chose to listen to it, too.

This is a difficult review to write because I don't want to give ANYTHING away. You will be missing something from the listening experience if you know anything about what to expect. It is best to let the story unfold, ever so slowly, have your surprises and make your own opinions. So, what is there to say about The Girl on the Train? As you can see from my star ratings, I have mixed feelings.

The first thing you should know, as I didn't and had to rewind the first hour, is that there are three different narrators for the three main characters. So, pay attention until you start to recognize the voices.

On the positive side, the book held my attention all the way through, and the narrators were excellent in "becoming" the individual women. I was kept guessing who-done-it until the last hour or so of the book. It's always nice to have a surprise you never saw coming at the end.

So, besides the above-mentioned good aspects, there were some things that bothered me enough to lower my ratings. Again, trying not to give anything away, there were some real inconsistencies in the plot--people acting out of character along with conflicting behaviors and information. More disconcerting was the weakness and passivity of the three women. It made me grimace and want to shake them. The likeability factor of the characters--just about all of them--was pretty low, too. As a result, I felt little tension and anxiety when danger appeared.

I wouldn't encourage anyone to read or not read this book. You just may love it, as did many reviewers. It is your choice to make!

Moving Day

Forty years’ accumulation of art, antiques, and family photographs are more than just objects for Stanley Peke - they are proof of a life fully lived. A life he could have easily lost long ago. When a con man steals his houseful of possessions in a sophisticated moving-day scam, Peke wanders helplessly through his empty New England home, inevitably reminded of another helpless time: decades in Peke’s past, a cold and threadbare Stanislaw Shmuel Pecoskowitz eked out a desperate existence in the war-torn Polish countryside, subsisting on scraps, dodging Nazi soldiers.

I thought the plot sounded interesting, but I didn't have a clue where this book would lead me. I enjoyed this book immensely and just know I will listen to it again. There is a certain enjoyment that comes with knowing a book's ending. You can sit back without tension and just enjoy the second trip. Which is not to say that I didn't enjoy the first trip. There was just a bit of anxiety plaguing me, a bit of worry.

You can better learn the plot from the publisher's description. Per my short summary, you have a 72 year-old affluent, somewhat snobbish, very intelligent Jew who is wronged by a con artist who steals the old man's and his wife's lifetime of belongings before a retirement move to southern California. Stanley Peke, as victim, started out as not such a likeable character and at some points, even reminded me of the con artist, Nick--some similarities in personality, the wish to get even, egocentric, and both very much in their own heads. That is what is so unusual about this book. Most of it was written as if it was coming from the two men's own thoughts and feelings. Some felt this method was too slow moving, not so interesting. I got used to it fairly fast. I realized what the author was doing and was able to go with the flow. I was not in a hurry. I am not an action junkie.

As the book progressed, I learned a great deal more about Stanley Peke, who he was and why he was that man. While he did not become significantly more loveable, I could surely understand him. As time progressed, I became a staunch supporter and rooter for old Stan. The book took me places I never imagined, and every bit of it was compelling and fascinating, becoming more so as the book charged on toward the ending.

(And I have not even said anything about Nazis! You are in for a treat.)

Narration was done perfectly by Christopher Lane. He nailed both main characters as well as anyone could.

Chiefs

In 1919, Delano, Georgia, appoints its first chief of police. Honest and hardworking, the new chief is puzzled when young men start to disappear. But his investigation is ended by the fatal blast from a shotgun. Delano's second chief-of-police is no hero, yet he is also disturbed by what he sees in the missing-persons bulletins. In 1969, when Delano's third chief takes over, the unsolved disappearances still haunt the police files.

If you haven't listened to this book yet, you are really missing something wonderful and unforgettable. Yes, it has been around for a long while which means there are alot of reviews. So don't just take my word for it. Look at the reviews here. (My favorites are from Karen and Linda Lou.)

But let me add a few words of my own. This is a story that engulfed me, one of those books I just couldn't remain on the surface of. The characters are so well-developed that I felt I knew them. I came to really have strong feelings about them--whether I liked them or hated them, there was so much emotion evoked. And when I really care about a character, I feel such fear when they are in danger. At one point--no, at a couple of places--I had to turn the book off, as I couldn't bear to know what happened next. Of course, I braced myself and I went back, as I had to know. I kept telling myself to trust the author and the other reviewers.

Listening to this first book from well-known author Woods was a very rewarding experience. The narration was the best you can find, in my opinion. What is this nonsense about it being too slow? Ridiculous. Mark Hammer had it down perfectly. His cadence and speed matched perfectly what you would expect of the old south. I wouldn't have had it any other way. Perhaps that is why the story was so believable. He is a genius!

Read the story description about the dead police chiefs. There is really SO much more than that here. Look at all the glowing reviews. And do yourself a favor and get this book. I am so glad I did.

These Things Hidden

Once the golden child of tiny Linden Falls, Iowa, Allison Glenn watches her reputation crumble as she is sent to prison for five years—convicted of a terrible crime. But what really happened that fateful night? Allison’s younger sister is the only other person who knows the truth. Now out of prison, Allison is more desperate than ever to set the record straight, but the revelation of the truth could have far-reaching consequences.

I can't believe I got through the entire book, but I did. So much drivel! The story line is so implausible and unbelievable. Coincidences abound and I kept shaking my head in disbelief. The writing is very simple and filled with minutiae. Action is sorely missing from this book until the very end and that action was so ridiculous I would have preferred to do without it.

The characters were not well-developed, and their behaviors had almost no explanation or basis. Too many of them were unlikeable or downright unpleasant. And following the old trite pattern, the parents of the adult characters must be evil and hateful.

As for the narration, it was passable but not exceptional.

With all these complaints, I managed to stick with the book and finish it in a few days. My recent listen of another of this author's books left me with the feeling it was messed up by the narration. I cannot, however, blame a bad narration for my dislike of this book. I am thinking that Heather Gudenkauf is not my cup of tea. I won't be purchasing any more of her stories.

Cold City: A Repairman Jack Novel

If you’ve never read a Repairman Jack novel, this is the place to begin. It’s 1990. A twenty-one-year-old named Jack has dropped out of college, leaving his old life behind to build a new one in New York City. Manhattan’s rough edges are jagged enough to shred any unwary newcomer, but perhaps not one who is determined to stay off the grid, at any cost, in the busiest metropolis on earth. And to do so, he’ll have to take jobs of a less than legal nature.

It was a daily deal and it sounded promising. It seemed a bunch of folks liked the Repairman Jack series and this book, a prequel, seemed a good place to start. So I decided to give it a try. What a fun story and what an amazing narrator. Cendese is a very talented guy and he certainly had his work cut out for him in this book. He switched flawlessly back and forth to SO many different accents--Italian, Germanic, Arabic, Jewish, etc, etc, doing a predominantly great job with each. It was actually mind-boggling--just listening to Cendese's performance was fascinating. I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like this in an audiobook before.

The story itself is pure fun. Not deep, not great literature, but it kept me listening and wanting to know what would happen next to young Jack. He is not a repairman in this book--he is just finding himself here. Struggling with his ethics, trying to support himself, establishing relationships . . . .

There is more information on the plot in the description and in other reviews. This is a fun book, I enjoyed it, and I do recommend it.

Medical School for Everyone: Grand Rounds Cases

There's an art and science behind how doctors diagnose and treat medical patients. Where do doctors get these skills? The Grand Rounds experience, where they practice how to make accurate diagnoses by examining real patients. And with Dr. Benaroch's 24 unique lectures, you'll explore how a master physician solves medical problems just like a detective.

This is another superb pick from The Great Courses. It is a wonderful introduction to the experience of Grand Rounds cases, designed for those considering a career in medicine and those who just want more information on health issues.

Each case includes the presenting complaint by the patient, the patient interview, follow-up test results, and lots of in-depth explanation on the particular health condition and the ins and outs of how a doctor would go about finding the correct diagnosis. In addition, treatment issues were discussed.

It appears to this layperson that Professor Benaroch really knows his stuff. He is a pediatrician but he covers patients of all ages in this lecture series. Additionally, I learned a great deal of helpful information about how to prepare for a doctor visit as the patient.

Legendarium

In every generation, certain writers are chosen to be protectors of The Legendarium, a metaphysical library that exists at the nexus of the multiverse. Inside this library are doorways that lead to every world ever created in literature. There are forces of evil constantly at work to destroy the library and send the world back into an age of darkness. Now, in a time of growing illiteracy, two heroes are chosen to defend The Legendarium.

Elizabeth Hauris says:"If Butcher & Fforde had a child, this would be it."

Short, sweet, and fun with some laugh-aloud moments! I feel sorry for all the scrooges who didn't like this book. It should be quite funny and enjoyable to the well-read, to writers and would-be writers, to Kindle groupies, to lovers of the classics, and to light fantasy fans.

It certainly isn't deep literature but there is a place for everything, and I found this a light-hearted, fun romp. It was a needed short break for me after an emotional and serious read right before it. It made me laugh and feel good and who doesn't want that? I will be looking for further adventures of Bombo.

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